Malaysian couple arrested in Danok for ATM fraud

A Malaysian couple, believed to be members of a fugitive gang specialising in fake automated teller machine (ATM) cards, was detained at a hotel in the southern Thailand border town of Danok on Saturday.

Seized from the couple were a blank ATM card and eight ATM and credit cards issued by Thai and Malaysian banks, as well as Thai and Malaysian banknotes worth about 500,000 baht (RM50,200), according to the Bangkok Post.

It is learnt the Malaysians had been on the run from Thai and Malaysian authorities for sometime.

The Bangkok Post quoted Songkhla immigration bureau deputy chief Pol Capt Seksan Ongart as saying the couple, aged 45 and 38, had checked into the hotel in Sadao district, Songkhla province on Friday.

He said they were known to have crossed the border to Thailand several times and used counterfeit cards to withdraw money at several locations in the southern province.

Thai banks alerted the authorities on the couple's alleged activities and pictures of the suspects withdrawing money from several ATM machines in Songkhla were circulated to the police, said the Bangkok Post.

The suspects had allegedly told the immigration police that they had obtained the blank ATM card from two other Malaysians who were arrested in Malaysia on Dec 29.

The couple were suspected to be members of a 10-member Malaysian ATM skimming gang, four of whom had been arrested, said Seksan.